“The Cross” by Gary R. Hess – A Religious Poem from ‘Life with Christ: Poetry for the Catholic Soul’

The bloodied cross sat waiting.
Its penance was still unknown.
The tears it shed. The man it shamed.
The people who called his name.
The cross wanted more.
What happened wasn’t his choice.
But the pain remained.
It grew.
The pain swelled over it
and exploded as if a
supernova gave way and
brought the spirit of the Lord
over all.
The pain remained.
Not the pain we feel from
getting a cut, but the
kind of pain when we
hurt someone we love.
The pain of shame.
The pain we all carry.